Local news as infrastructure; the 'conspiracy contagion;' Trump DOJ seized NYT reporter phone logs; 'Judge Judy' finish line; AMC surges again

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Brian Stelter here at 10:38pm ET Wednesday. Happy birthday Kerry Flynn! Here's the latest on local news, the DOJ, Snap, AMC, Spotify, Gawker, Factal, and more...

New views of the local news crisis

Since you're a subscriber to a newsletter about the media, you probably know a lot more about the fragile state of local news than the average consumer. But you're probably also in a better-than-average position to help. So let's take a look at some of the latest research and reporting about the problems and possible solutions.

Up first, a brand new 538 piece by Joshua Darr. The LSU professor worked with colleagues to show that "less local news meant more polarization" in communities. "Then, with a little luck," he wrote, "we were also able to study the other side of the coin — whether more local news could actually bring people together." The answer was yes, at least in Palm Springs, California.

But, Darr wrote, "the market is simply not providing local newspapers the resources they need to deliver the civic benefits they're capable of, which raises the question as to what extent the government should step in to help." He flicked at the proposed Journalism Competition and Preservation Act in the Senate and pointed out that "even bolder policies have been proposed to help local news, such as giving direct payments to news organizations to hire reporters or offering Americans vouchers to spend on local nonprofit media."

"Critical infrastructure"

Local news as civic infrastructure? With Democrats controlling the levers of power in Congress, these ideas will at least get a hearing. Whether they'll come to fruition is another matter altogether. But Maria Cantwell, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, said earlier this spring that local news, "frayed beyond belief," should be treated as "critical infrastructure" that "needs to be preserved."

Billions in funding for local news?! I can hear the bad-faith mockery on Fox News at the same time I type these words. But for a good-faith argument about this, read Steven Waldman's recent piece for Poynter: "Why local news should be included in the infrastructure bill..."

>> Related: This NYT guest essay by Sarah Bartlett and Julie Sandorf details how NYC is supporting small news outlets through ad spending commitments...

"Fixing" local TV news?

"National news outlets and social media have gotten a lot of attention for contributing to mistrust and disinformation, but local TV news is no less complicit," Amanda Ripley wrote in this deep dive for The Atlantic last month. Ripley surveyed some experiments by Scripps' local stations to improve TV news and rebuild trust -- from "increasing the length and complexity of its segments" to "backing away from crime coverage and other cheap thrills." There's a lot to think about here...

The "nationalization" problem

"Can local TV news keep politics local?" Matt Grossman of the Niskanen Center posed this question on a recent podcast. Here's a transcript. Local coverage is "threatened by nationalization," Grossman said, citing new work by two scholars. In summary: "Daniel Moskowitz finds that local TV news helps citizens learn more about their governors and senators, encouraging split-ticket voting. But Joshua McCrain finds that Sinclair has bought up local stations, increasing coverage of national politics and moving rightward. Local news coverage is in decline but offers one of the major remaining bulwarks against nationalization and polarization." More here...

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- "There's no such thing as a former journalist," Roy Peter Clark writes in this piece about viewing PR pros, speechwriters, PIOs, grant writers, and others as "members of the same tribe." Call them "public writers," he says... (Poynter)

-- The lead story across many TV newscasts on Wednesday: President Biden calling June a "month of action" to increase vaccinations by increasing incentives... (WaPo)

-- This just in: Apple is asking staffers to return to the office "three days a week starting in early September..." (The Verge)

-- "Still waiting:" The parents of journalist Danny Fenster continue to await word about his detention in Myanmar. Poppy Harlow interviewed them on Wednesday... (CNN)

BREAKING

Trump DOJ seized NYT reporter phone logs, too

Now we know that Trump's Justice Department secretly seized communications records of reporters working for the Washington Post, CNN, and The New York Times. The outlets were notified in that order; The Times reported on its case on Wednesday. A DOJ spokesman told the paper "that 'members of the news media have now been notified in every instance' of leak investigations from the 2019-2020 period in which their records were sought." So that's a wrap? No. "We expect the Department of Justice to explain why this action was taken and what steps are being taken to make certain it does not happen again in the future," NYT exec editor Dean Baquet said in a statement.

>> The DOJ "has now secretly seized my phone records twice," the NYT's Adam Goldman tweeted. "Once under the Obama administration and once under the Trump administration."

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

Four CNN stories that reveal something about the state of American politics:

-- Overturn-the-election chatter among Trump supporters and QAnon followers on platforms like Telegram is "creating concern on Capitol Hill" about the possibility of further violence, Jamie Gangel and Donie O'Sullivan report...

-- Maggie Fox writes: "Political conservatives are more likely to believe untrue news reports than liberals are, researchers reported Wednesday..."

-- With an eye toward 2024, the RNC chair is excoriating the Commission on Presidential Debates and "threatening to advise any future Republican nominee against participating in general election presidential debates unless significant changes are made to the commission," Dan Merica reports...

-- Chris Cuomo's conclusion on Wednesday night: "The conspiracy contagion is only growing..."

Today in Democracy 101

We've reached the point in Trump's fall when headlines like this one are necessary: "Despite his predictions, Trump won't simply be reinstated as president."

New reporting from the NYT's Maggie Haberman kick-started this current round of coverage on Tuesday. WaPo's Josh Dawsey and Rosalind S. Helderman backed it up on Wednesday: "Trump has become so fixated on the audits that he suggested recently to allies that their success could result in his return to the White House this year, according to people familiar with comments he has made."

This wackiness would have been laughed out of the "Veep" writers' room. But it's real life...

A "singular situation"

As the Post team points out, Trump's "deepening preoccupation with post-election audits has created a singular situation, one in which a former president is regularly attacking the electoral legitimacy of his successor." Dawsey and Helderman reported that one of the people in Trump's ear "is Christina Bobb, a host at the One America News network who has privately discussed the Arizona audit with the former president and his team." For OAN, the "audit" is cheap content. An un-reality show for the cameras. I interviewed Kyung Lah about Bobb and OAN's role in Arizona on a recent "Reliable" podcast episode...

Donald Trump, failed blogger

Oliver Darcy writes: "The blog page that Trump launched less than one month ago, after his team suggested he'd be launching a major new social platform, has been permanently shuttered. CNBC broke the news, quoting Jason Miller saying that the site 'will not be returning.' Miller confirmed that to me, saying the site was 'just auxiliary to the broader efforts we have and are working on.' It's unclear what those broader efforts are, however. Here's my full story..."

THURSDAY PLANNER

The Bidens will celebrate the First Lady's 70th birthday in Rehoboth Beach...

The Supreme Court may announce opinions at 10am ET...

Warner Bros. opens Harry Potter New York...

Disneyland prepares for Friday's opening of Avengers Campus...

A Friday deadline...

Colleen Flaherty of Inside Higher Ed writes: "Nikole Hannah-Jones, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist whose tenure vote was deferred by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Board of Trustees, is giving the university until Friday to reconsider her case."

--> Paul Farhi and Jeremy Barr looked at how Arkansas press magnate Walter E. Hussman Jr. "has emerged as one of the most prominent foes" of Hannah-Jones...

--> Slate's Alice Marwick and Daniel Kreiss wrote about "the conservative disinformation campaign" against Hannah-Jones...

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- Missed this yesterday: "The Washington Post has issued a correction on its 2020 report on Sen. Tom Cotton and the lab-leak theory he had discussed in the media..." (The Hill)

-- Aaron Blake writes about Tucker Carlson and "the curious effort to equate attacks on racism with attacks on Republicans..." (WaPo)

-- "Fox News topped the ratings in key categories during the month of May, but cable news overall saw significant declines from the same period a year earlier." No surprises there. Ratings rise, ratings fall, and only crazed partisans read too much into the downslopes... (Deadline)

-- Bill O'Reilly held onto the No. 1 spot on the NYT nonfiction bestseller list. This week's debuts: Jordan Ellenberg's "Shape," Brian Moylan's "The Housewives," and Tom Coyne's "A Course Called America..." (NYT)

-- Jake Tapper's "The Devil May Dance" held steady on the fiction best seller list for a third straight week... (Twitter)

"The market for anti-Biden books is 'ice cold'"

Oliver Darcy writes: "That's how McKay Coppins described it after speaking with insiders in the conservative book publishing world. 'In the past, it's been like taking candy from a baby to write a book about the Democratic president," one book editor told him. Now, the book editor added, 'Nobody is trying.' Coppins spoke to Ben Shapiro, Jonah Goldberg, and Eric Nelson — all of whom said in one way or another that Biden is difficult to portray in a sinister light..."

@BreakingNews founders raise $3.3M for new venture

Oliver Darcy writes: "Remember @BreakingNews, which NBC acquired and eventually shuttered in 2016? Three of its co-founders — Cory Bergman, Charlie Tillinghast, and Ben Tesch — have started a new company called Factal which 'monitors breaking news to help companies assess risks to their business,' GeekWire's Kurt Schlosser reported Wednesday. Essentially, companies purchase subscriptions to Factal and are alerted when breaking news occurs in an area of the world that might affect their businesses. The new venture has raised $3.3 million..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

By Kerry Flynn:

-- Charlotte Klein interviewed Gawker alums about the resurrection of the site, an effort referred to as Gawker 3.0 and reportedly launching this fall... (VF)

-- Forbes released an inaugural 50 Over 50 list in partnership with Mika Brzezinski. Among the honorees are Kamala Harris, Arianna Huffington and Shonda Rhimes... (Forbes)

-- "In the age of viral media and punitive surveillance, visual journalists have an ethical obligation to minimize harm when covering protests," Taraneh Azar writes... (Poynter)

-- McClatchy has voluntarily recognized The Kansas City Star union... (Twitter)

The "Judge Judy" finish line

The WSJ's John Jurgensen traveled to Naples to profile Judy Sheindlin about the end of her CBS syndicated show and the beginning of her new court series for the Amazon-owned ad-supported streaming service IMDb TV. The final "Judge Judy" episode Sheindlin taped will air on June 8, he reports. New episodes will continue airing until July, and the reruns will continue for years and years. But the finish line is nearly in sight. Sheindlin told Jurgensen she assumes everyone will know if the show ultimately turns out to be a success based on whether Amazon orders future seasons.

>> Sheindlin also talked about about her exit from CBS, saying she felt disrespected when the network moved her "Hot Bench" show to some of its secondary channels to make room for Drew Barrymore's show. "We had a nice marriage," she said. "It's going to be a Bill and Melinda Gates divorce..."

Snap's head of original content is leaving

Todd Spangler's scoop for Variety on Wednesday: "Sean Mills, head of original content at Snap, is leaving after six years with Snapchat's parent company. With his departure, Vanessa Guthrie, director of content at Snap who has teamed with Mills in creating originals since 2016, will run the Snap Originals team..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- "A new California bill has spurned a battle between journalists and law enforcement reps," KPCC reports. This is a big issue for press advocates in the state... (KPCC)

-- On a happier note, read about how "a group of 47 aspiring writers from elementary and middle schools" produced a newspaper in Montclair, New Jersey... (Montclair Local)

-- Connie Schultz is joining the USA Today Network as a weekly columnist... (USAT)

-- "Indie doc studio XTR is at work on 'In Her Own Words,' a feature documentary about Fox News alums Gretchen Carlson and Julie Roginsky and their campaign against Roger Ailes and the use of nondisclosure agreements..." (THR)

Golden State pet peeve

Brian Lowry writes: "Michael Hiltzik of the LA Times wrote about a common pet peeve of Californians when it comes to East Coast coverage of the Golden State, in the context of Caitlyn Jenner's gubernatorial bid in the state's recall election: 'It's all too easy for out-of-state TV anchors and reporters to focus on celebritude and superficialities when dealing with California politics,' he wrote, adding that when outsiders report on the state, 'It's not often that I've seen a piece that describes a place I recognize.'" Read on...

FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX

-- Strong coverage of Amazon in the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post: "Injury rates at Amazon outpace other warehouses" was a front page story in Wednesday's paper... (WaPo)

-- Clubhouse has hired Facebook's Aarthi Ramamurthy as its head of international... (India Times)

-- Will Sattelberg writes about how Clubhouse "looks to grow by connecting users to social networks people actually use..." (Android Police)

-- Spotify is launching "Only You," which "will give users personalized playlists in a shareable form," and a new feature called Blend which "will let two friends automatically merge their musical tastes into a playlist," Ashley Carman writes... (The Verge)

Summer blockbuster: AMC surges again

Frank Pallotta writes: "The hits keep coming. Shares of AMC surged more than 120% Wednesday to a new peak above $70. Trading of the shares was halted twice due to volatility. The popular WallStreetBets Reddit board keeps boosting the stock..."

>> CNBC.com's lead headline right now: "AMC trading frenzy doubles stock price as movie chain further embraces its retail investors..."

>> WSJ: "Analysts credited the run-up to a mob of individual traders..."

FOR THE RECORD, PART SEVEN

-- "With inflation hitting the U.S. economy at large, Hollywood is feeling the impact of it on its film and television production," Bryn Sandberg reports. "The rising demand and sluggish supply of building materials is hampering the entertainment industry's ability to build movie and TV sets within budget..." (THR)

-- "Chris Harrison's future with 'The Bachelor' franchise remains in limbo, as the longtime host — who came under fire for racially insensitive comments — will sit out this summer's season of 'Bachelor in Paradise,'" Elizabeth Wagmeister reports... (Variety)

-- Lisa Respers France writes: "Matthew Perry and his fiancée Molly Hurwitz have split..." (CNN)

Teaching civics through music

Marianne Garvey writes: "A delightful new trailer is here for 'We the People,' an animated musical show set to air on Netflix, executive produced by former President Barack and Michelle Obama. 'The show combines music and animation to educate a new generation of young Americans about the power of the people,' a description for the show reads. 'We the People' will feature a series of 10 music videos that cover a range of civics lessons tailored toward young people." It'll start streaming on July 4 after a world premiere at AFI DOCs on June 24...

SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST....

Pet of the day!

Nicholas Sinisi emails: "This is my 'newshound' Dinah (a rescue who's part Plott, part Lab) who's always anxious to hear all the breaking media news!"